Drop door for railway cars



1931- ca. G. GILPIN 1,832,016

DROP DOOR FOR RAILWAY CARS Original Filed April 26. 1929 2 Sheets-Sheetl fnmmior:

Nov. 17, 1931. GILPIN DROP DOOR FOR RAILWAY CARS Original Filed April26, 1929 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Invenigr; Garth 6%0111 v Aflorn 7 PatentedNov. 17, 1931 UNITED STATES PATENT ()FFICE GARTH G. GILPIN, F RIVERSIDE,ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO UNION METAL PRODUCTS COMPANY, OF CHICAGO,ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF DELAWARE DROP DOOR ron RAILWAY CARS Originalapplication filed April 26, 1929, Serial No. 358,305. Divided and thisapplication filed January My invention relates to the construction ofrailway cars of the dumping or drop bottom type such as hopper cars,hopper gondola cars, drop bottom or general service gondola 5 cars orthe like, having a door forming a part of the car for retaining the loadtherein, Which door is provided with hinges adjacent one of its edgesand is capable of being dropped or swung open to discharge the load. Anymeans of raising the door to the closed position and any means forlocking and releasing the door may be employed with my device. Such adoor is commonly called a hopper door. My doors may also be used as dropendgates or doors for mill type gondola cars.

The object of the inventon is to provide a. door for a railway car witha substantially circular rib or reinforcement forming a drum headwhereby a load upon the door normal to its load sustaining surface drawsthe metal toward the center of the circular rib which is resisted by thearcuate construction of the rib and to connect the circular ribs ofadjacent doors in a car by a spreader, which spreader preferably issecured to two parts of each circular rib.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 shows part of a railway car incorporating my invention.

Fig. 2 is a section on line 22 of Fig. 1 showing the door and associatedparts and also the spreader.

Fig. 3 is a plan view of one of the doors showing a circular rib and thespreader.

Fig. 1 shows a modified construction.

The drawings show my improved door applied to a hopper car wherein theentire car, or at least the major portion thereof, consists of a hopperwith the lower portion thereof divided into a plurality of small hoppersor chutes, which chutes are provided with doors 9 swingably supported toa part of the car by hinges 10. Any convenient means may be used toclose and lock the doors.

Serial No. 509,716.

The form illustrated comprises a shaft 11 extending between oppositesides of the car which is mounted upon the center sills 12 and providedwith an eccentric arm 13 connected to the spreader 1 1 by a connectingrod 15.

My improved door comprises a substantially rectangular body portionwhich is provided with a circular or substantially circular rib 21forming a drum head wherein any vertical load imposed upon the doorwithin the circular rib tends to draw the rib inwardly; in other words,to flatten the circle, which tendency is resisted by the arcuateconstruction of the ribs, as the force is resisted by a part of thecircular rib which could be described as an arch. The spreader 14 issecured to the door so as to transmit the raising force to the circularrib and preferably to two parts of each circular rib of each door.

By the term circular I mean anything v substantially so; for instance,the hexagonal construction shown in Fig. 4.

I have shown and described the circular rib and several means ofreinforcing the circular rib to better enable it to perform itsfunction. However, any one or all of the several means may be used andstill come within the scope of this invention.

The accompanying drawings illustrate the preferred form of theinvention, though it is to be understood that the invention is notlimitedto the exact details of construction shown and described, as itis obvious that various modifications thereof, within the scope of theclaims, will occur to persons skilled in the art.

This is a division of my co-pending application Serial No. 358,805,filed April 26, 1929.

I claim:

1. In a railway car, the combination of a pair of doors hinged to thecar for simultaneous operation, each of said doors comprising a bodywith a circular reinforcing rib therefor, a spreader and a door raisingmechanism associated with the spreader, said spreader secured to thedoor so as to transmit the raising force to the circular rib.

2. In a railway car, the combination of a pair of doors hinged to thecar for simultaneous operation, each of said doors comprising a bodywith a circular reinforcing rib therefor, a spreader, and a door raisingmechanism associated With the spreader, said spreader secured to thedoor so as to transmit the raising force to two parts of the circularrib.

GARTH G. GILPIN.

